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Transition Out of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Services When Newcomers Obtain Citizenship

Summary

This Operational Bulletin (OB) informs Settlement Officers about the policies applicable on the transition of clients out of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Settlement Programs services. Clients will typically transition from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Settlement Programs services once they obtain Canadian citizenship. Permanent Residents are no longer eligible for Settlement Program services once they become Canadian citizens. This is also applicable for refugees, who become Canadian citizens.

Despite transitioning out of the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Settlement Programs services, these individuals must not experience a disadvantage merely because they opted for receiving citizenship. Therefore, the authorities have provided a period of time to these individuals. During this period, these individuals would need to transition from the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Settlement Programs services to those offered by other departments. The other departments would typically include:

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) or,

Departments of various provinces and territories

Issue

Situations commonly arise where Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) clients obtain Canadian citizenship. On obtaining Canadian citizenship, these clients would need to switch from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Settlement Programs services to the services offered by:

Other departments or,

Other levels of government

Therefore, the authorities have decided to provide these clients with an orderly transition out of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Settlement Programs services.

Background

When newcomers becomes Canadian citizens, they are no longer eligible for receiving Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Settlement Programs services. This is in accordance with the terms and conditions specified under the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Settlement Programs.

This results in a contrasting situation. On the one hand, the authorities encourage newcomers to become fully participating citizens. On the other hand, once these newcomers obtain Canadian citizenship, they lose access to the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Settlement Programs services.

Currently, each region follows different practices when it comes to determining how quickly clients must relinquish their Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Settlement Programs services after obtaining Canadian citizenship.

In some provinces, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and the provincial government cost-share the same program. In this scenario, the client continue to remain eligible in the program as provincially sponsored participants.

For other Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Settlement Programs services, these citizens might find a comparable provincial program or a Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) program available to them. This is the case with services such as those for labour market access.

Regardless of these scenarios though, the authorities believe that they need to provide clients with sufficient time. This would enable the clients to make an orderly transition out of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Settlement Programs services. It would also enable the clients to transition to the services provided by other departments or levels of government seamlessly.

The Guidelines

The appropriate transition period for various programs will vary. For example, the authorities offer Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada classes over terms of specified durations. These typically last from September to January and from February to June. Therefore, the maximum transition period applicable for these classes would be at the end of the term for which the newcomer enrolled e.g. June.

Similarly, other programs might not have specific cut-off dates. Therefore, the authorities would need to provide a maximum time in which newcomers would be able to participate after they obtain Canadian citizenship. Once this maximum time span elapses, the authorities would be able to discontinue providing services to the newcomers who acquire Canadian citizenship.

The authorities believe that this transition period of two months is sufficient. During this time, newcomers would be able to arrange for placement in alternative programs offered by: